How Sorry Are We?

“This country, speaking through its government, does not favor gun control. The massacre at Virginia Tech is a logical consequence of that reality. Are we sorry that 32 people, most of them no older than 22, were killed? Of course. But we aren’t so sorry that we intend to do anything to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. We value the lives of Mary Read, Ryan Clark, Leslie Sherman, and all the rest, but we value more their killer Cho Seung Hui’s untrammeled right to purchase not only a Glock 19 and a Walther P22, but also the ammunition clips that, according to the April 18 Washington Post, would have been impossible to obtain legally had Congress not allowed President Clinton’s assault-weapon ban to expire three years ago. […] There are people in this country today who, one day in the future, will be gunned down by psychopaths like Cho Seung Hui. […] We could spare these lives - some of them, at least - by making it difficult or impossible to acquire a handgun in the United States. But we choose not to. Tough luck, whoever you are.” (story)